Trafficking is yet another disease that is being spread like wild fire in India. A detailed understanding of the social structure of this era will lead us to the conclusion that trafficking stems from a complicated set of power imbalances in our very own society. It is a plague, a reflection of the unequal status of women and children in the society. Thus, the urgency to eradicate this evil is consuming us.
Traditionally, trafficking was coupled with slavery and forced labour, which now has given way to prostitution and commercial sexual exploitation. The cause for concern amounts from the fact that trafficking is the third largest source of illegal activities in the world after arms and drugs.
The reasons behind trafficking of women and children are several, the most important being the deficiency of basic necessities of life. Social, political and economic factors render women and children vulnerable to falling pray to trafficking.
Poverty is the most common factor responsible for a large number of women and children to leave their homes in search for a better life and in turn falling prey to trafficking. Women are trafficked for the purpose of prostitution and children for menial labour and petty crimes. Poverty and economic disparities between different places encourage the poverty stricken women and children to migrate in search of a better livelihood. Therefore, greater the measure of impoverishment leads to a higher measure of trafficking.
Women and children coming from broken families, where they have been subjected to sexual abuse or drug abuse become victims of trafficking as they feel the need to flee from their dismal circumstance.
Marriage is yet another significant factor responsible for trafficking of women. It is used as a camouflage for trafficking where parents who are eager to get their daughters married but cannot pay dowry give up their daughters, thereby aiding in trafficking.
Domestic Violence accelerates the cause of trafficking. Women feel the need to escape from their pathetic situation of mental and physical trauma caused by domestic violence and fall prey to traffickers.
A recent survey explains the decline in the sex ratio as an imminent threat to women and children, becoming victims of trafficking. To be precise, the demand for women and girls has increased in some places due to such decline and therefore women and girls are trafficked from one state to another for marriage or for commercial sexual exploitation.
Traditional prostitution although prohibited still continues to exist in a surreptitious manner. Minor girls are driven into prostitution in the name of faith essentially in the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka.
Yet another significant dynamic responsible for trafficking is the limited access to education and information available to these women and children who easily become victims of traffickers. Commercial sex work being another factor which aggravates trafficking. The pure nature of this industry demands a regular fresh supply of women and girls, making this industry a very profitable one, as it requires low investment and yields a high unaccountable profit.
Globalisation and commercialisation has undeniably resulted in the need for cheap labour. There is ample lot of unprotected labour flow from the rural areas which causes an increase in the prospects for trafficking and exploitation. The direct effect of consumerism hones the need for acquiring consumer goods, thereby increasing the desire for more money. This materialises into a large number of people easily available to migrate from one place to another for economic advantage.
The law which has been instrumental in curbing and suppressing the exploitation of people subjected to trafficking is the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956. This Act was enacted in pursuance of the International Convention for the Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of others. Article 23 of the Constitution guarantees to every citizen of India the prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour. Again, the Directive Principles of State Policies under Part IV of the Indian Constitution in Article 39(e) and (f) declares that the State Policies should be directed towards securing and protecting childhood and youth against exploitation and material abandonment. Built on these constitutional principles the Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act was enacted in 1956 (SIT ACT). This Act was amended twice and was renamed as the ITP Act in 1986.
Despite the measures provided in the ITP Act 1956, prohibiting and condemning any violation made in contravention of the provisions prescribed in the Act, there have been grave violations made in pursue of trafficking and exploitation of Women and Girls for prostitution and commercial sex work.
Our country has delineated an impressive history in many spheres civilization has learned to cherish-an expotentially growing economy, an enormous reservoir of labour which only awaits to reach its true potential and underlying all policies, a steadfast Constitution breathing principles of justice and fairness in all questions of policy. Honouring its implicit commitment to secure the most rudimentary rights available to a citizen of any modern democracy,human rights, must also feature high on any Government’s agenda, especially that belonging to a welfare state. It is therefore a necessary and desirable aspiration for the Indian Government to expend much of its energy and resources in ensuring human trafficking, one of the grossest forms of violation to a bodily integrity, be curtailed.
References:
Trafficking and the Law : An HRLN Publication.
